President Emmanuel Macron has condemned Poland's prime minister over his criticism of the French leader's repeated talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had questioned Mr Macron's hours of phone calls with Mr Putin, whom he likened to Hitler, and suggested they had achieved nothing.
"These statements are both baseless and scandalous," Mr Macron told French television channel TF1 on Wednesday evening, amid mounting fears that Mr Morawiecki's remarks could undermine EU unity during the bloc's face-off with Moscow over Ukraine.
He said the Polish leader was from a "far-right party" and was "supporting" his rival Marine Le Pen in France's presidential election this month.
"I take full responsibility for having spoken to the president of Russia, in the name of France, to avoid the war and to build a new architecture for peace in Europe several years ago," Mr Macron said.
"I did it from the beginning of my term in office. I was never naive, unlike others. I was never complicit, unlike others."
Mr Macron has repeatedly voiced concerns over Ms Le Pen's links to Russia, highlighting how she had taken a loan from a Russian bank that her National Rally party is still repaying. Ms Le Pen, meanwhile, has been seeking to distance herself from Moscow, which she visited before the last French presidential election in 2017 to meet Mr Putin.
She has lobbied for the European Union to drop sanctions imposed on Russia in 2014 after its annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea and has expressed admiration for Mr Putin.
Also speaking to TF1, Ms Le Pen called for France to withdraw its ambassador from Moscow after the killing of Ukrainian civilians in the town of Bucha allegedly by Russian troops.
"If there is really proof, then we need to be very firm," she said.
Polls show Ms Le Pen is gaining ground fast on Mr Macron before the first round of voting on Sunday.
Mr Macron's investment in diplomatic talks with Mr Putin saw him surge in the polls in March, but he has since fallen back in a campaign increasingly focused on rising inflation.
In her interview on Wednesday night, Ms Le Pen repeated her pledge to slash taxes on fuel and essential foods, while promising to ban the Muslim headscarf in all public spaces.
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Nato foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss the latest in the continuing Russia-Ukraine war. AFP -
People take part in a protest against the transport of cargo to Russia and Belarus near the Polish-Belarusian border crossing in Koroszczyn, eastern Poland. EPA -
A Ukrainian naval vessel, thought to be the ‘Donbas’ and a nearby building burn in the besieged city of Mariupol. AP -
Bucha resident Tetiana Ustymenko weeps over the grave of her son, buried in the garden of her house, in Bucha, north-west of Kyiv. AFP -
People charge their mobile phones in a public building in Bucha. AFP -
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Vladyslava Liubarets, a Bucha resident, cries as she hugs her sister whom she had not seen since the beginning of the Russian invasion, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army. EPA -
Local citizen Oleksandr, 55, looks at the grave of his neighbour in the backyard of his private house in Hostomel in Kyiv. EPA -
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The mother of Ukrainian soldier Lubomyr Hudzeliak, who was killed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, mourns during his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP -
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Residents gather outside a shelter in the city of Severodonetsk. AFP -
Residents in eastern Ukraine, including the city of Severodonetsk in Donbas region, have been asked by their government to leave 'now' or 'risk death'. AFP -
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Russian attacks have reduced Hotel Ukraine in Chernihiv to debris. Reuters -
Oleksii Shcherbo, 98, near his burnt house in the village of Sloboda, on the outskirts of Chernihiv. Reuters -
Residents walk past destroyed Russian military machinery on the street, in Bucha, the town which was retaken by the Ukrainian army, north-west of Kyiv. EPA -
Damaged National flags flutter in the wind on a cemetry of Chernihiv city which was blocked by Russian troops for a long time. EPA -
Demonstrators lie down on the ground in tribute to the people killed in Russia's war against Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany. AP -
A Ukrainian firefighter works at the site of a burning fuel storage facility ignited by an air strike, in Dnipropetrovsk. Reuters -
A woman before and after she was removed by rescuers from debris after a military strike on the town of Rubizhne, Luhansk. Reuters -
People wait for help to evacuate Derhachi. Reuters -
Pope Francis, in Vatican, holds a Ukrainian flag given to him by a delegation from the town of Bucha, where dozens of bodies had been found. EPA -
State emergency servicemen clear shells near Chernigiv, northern Ukraine. AFP -
US war veteran Steven Straub shows his tattoo of the Ukrainian flag while on patrol near Buda-Babynetska, north of Kyiv, days after Russian forces retreated from the area. AFP -
Candles are arranged in the shape of Ukraine by the monument to the poet Taras Shevchenko in the western city Lviv. AFP -
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A woman carries her cat as she walks past buildings that were destroyed by Russian shelling, in Borodyanka. Reuters -
Dmitriy Evtushkov, 25, points to his picture in a primary school album retrieved from the rubble of a block of flats. AP -
Technicians try to fix the internet in Bucha. AP -
A smashed mobile phone lies next to a Russian army ration book in Bucha. AP -
A woman and children after their arrival at a centre for displaced persons in Zaporizhzhia, about 200 kilometres north-west of Mariupol. AFP -
A man leaves a damaged pharmacy after a bombing that killed several civilians, in Mykolaiv. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers sing a patriotic song with buildings in the background that were destroyed during fighting in Borodyanka. AP -
Borodyanka residents carry humanitarian aid packages. Reuters -
Elderly Ukrainians shelter in a basement in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine. EPA -
Destroyed apartment buildings in Borodyanka. Reuters -
Relatives and friends are overwhelmed with emotions as they stand next to the coffin of Anatoly German during his funeral. AP
The Eurosceptic nationalist also said she would refuse to stand in front of an EU flag for her official portrait if elected president because "my job is not to be governor of a European region".
Mr Morawiecki had criticised several European leaders, including Mr Macron. "How many times have you negotiated with Putin and what have you achieved?" he asked of the French leader.
"We do not discuss, we do not negotiate with criminals. Criminals have to be fought against.
"Nobody negotiated with Hitler. Would you negotiate with Hitler, with Stalin, with Pol Pot?"
Mr Morawiecki also called for new Western sanctions on Russia and compared Mr Putin to dictators from the past.
